Monday the 24th of September at 5pm is the deadline for making submissions to An Bord Pleanála on the South Dublin County Council & Coillte plans for what is known as the Dublin Mountains Project for the Hellfire Club & Masseys Wood nearby. The plan is one dreamed up by the council and will cost € 19 million of taxpayer money i.e. collected property tax etc for what is basically a bit of a white-elephant project that will damage the environment, limit public access and charge a fee for what is now free and is expected to run at a loss for at least first 3 years, but yet the private contractors running it will be "insulated" from losses. In essence the project will put an valuable amenity that is in public hands effectively into private hands and give them a license to milk the public forever on it. If this gets through, it will be replicated all over the country in that arrogant and greed driven way we are all familiar with from the Celtic Tiger days and again today.

#SaveMooreStreetfromDemolition This is an important call to you to take part in this crucial show of support of the 1916 Moore Street Markets Battlefield site, on this Saturday. We are asking people to come in 1916 uniform or clothes, to bear one of the flags of the 1916 Easter Rising, to tell and bring your friends and comrades. #SaveMooreStreet Please share this post.

The march assembles at Liberty Hall at 1pm on Sat 30th and then proceeds to Moore Street.

Baliffs, hired thugs and Garda try to force their way in. Later they turn violent.

A massive eviction is underway in Dublin. It is at the complex of occupied houses and former factory spaces in Grangegorman.
Reports indicate that at 7am in the morning a very large number of private security angle grinder their way through one of the metal gates, invaded the area en massed and are erecting barriers (pictured) inside and trying to evict the occupants.

In 2012 public opposition forced the ditching of a plan for a "retirement village" on the side of the Dublin mountains, isolated from services and public transport and cut off by the M50, in an area normally zoned for agriculture and public amenity and widely used by the public. A previous plan for a private school on the site had been rejected for similar reasons in 2005. After the local elections the plan is back in a lightly tweaked form, with the developer's sister among a number of newly elected councillors supporting the project.

The Euro and local council elections take place on Fri May 23rd and nationwide there are 11 MEPs to be elected to represent Ireland Euro elections will also be taking place across Europe for a grand total of 751 seats in the European Parliament. Regrettably the European Commission which is composed of 28 non-elected and appointed commissioners and is besieged by thousands of lobbying firms working for the private sector, is probably reckoned to have more power. Yet despite this Europe matters because at least 70% of our legislation comes from there and practically most of the regulation in a diverse range of areas originates from Europe and some of the more background regulation has its origins with corporate lobbyists with the aim of using heavy regulation to put smaller competitors out of businesses by greatly increasing the relative costs for smaller businesses. The main political parties of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael constantly tell us they are pro business and for jobs and the economy. In fact they are for big business, privatisation, outsourcing of jobs, lower wages, less social safety net and their support of big business and corporations constantly results in the suffocating of small business which are the very areas that lead to most employment.

There will be an information event in the County Library, Tallaght from 3pm – 6pm on Tuesday 15th August 2017 where Council staff will be available to provide general guidance and answer queries relating to the proposed Dodder Greenway

This is a repost of a report by the WSM on the Water Charges protest last Saturday April 8th.

Thousands of protesters converged on Connolly and Heuston stations in Dublin yesterday as part of the 9th national demonstration against the water charges. The demonstration was called by Right2Water, the umbrella group of left wing political parties and trade unions, as part of an effort to pressurise the government to abandon their attempts to implement water charges.

We would like to make you aware of two Drop In /Open Days for members of the public hosted by South Dublin County Council and Coillte on Thursday 6th and Friday 7th April 2017 at Tallaght Stadium from 8am to 8pm where the "Project Team" will be on hand to discuss the proposed development with you.

Separate opportunities to meet the Project Team are also available for representatives of local community groups. Appointments may be made at econdev@sdublincoco.ie

Last night we shot some video inside the squatted Debtors prison in Dublin - the courts have ordered those living here to get out by midnight on Sunday, 11.59 to be exact. The abandoned prison in Dublins inner city has been occupied to be used as shelter and an arts space. The prison lies just behind Capel st, the entrance is on Halston st. Many of those occupying were recently evicted from Grangegorman squat The occupation was announced via Grangegorman Resists Eviction page last week.

Campaigners in animal costumes today demonstrated outside the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, in a call for the protection of water and wildlife to be included in the remit of the department.

The campaigners were delivering a 14,000 strong petition to Minister Denis Naughten calling for the reinstatement of the word Environment to the title of the department as well as calling for the Minister for the Environment to be given responsibility for wildlife and water protection.

**Family evicted from Dublin's Regency Hotel win offer of more secure alternative accommodation , 20 hour long picket of Regency Hotel by family and supporters ended.**

The Irish Housing Network has ended their protest outside the Regency Hotel in Dublin following the success of the family in securing alternative accommodation. The Network believes that the success of the family in securing safe alternative accommodation is thanks to the family’s persistence and courage in seeking decent accommodation for their family, and the response and level of solidarity shown by members of the public, the north Dublin community and housing groups across the city. These forces stood together in solidarity, putting significant pressure on the homeless services to provide the support previously denied to the family.

100 years after reducing downtown Dublin to rubble the British Navy returned during last week's
Easter 1916 commemorations. Accompanied by U.S. warships, they docked in Dublin as part of the NATO
fleet presently waging wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Food Not Bombs recovers and shares free vegan food with the public without restriction in over 1,000 cities around the world to protest war, poverty and the destruction of the environment.
Each group is independent and invites everyone to participate in making decisions for their local chapter using the consensus process.

Food Not Bombs is dedicated to taking nonviolent direct action to change society so no one is forced to stand in line to eat at a soup kitchen expressing a commitment to the fact that food is a right and not a privilege. With over a billion people going hungry each day how can we spend money on weapons or war.

A new initiative has been started in Dublin. we appeal for volunteers.

On Thursday evening 2nd June 2016 I attended a meeting in St. Augustine’s school in Blackrock where parents expressed outrage at the withdrawal of the Saint John of God Community Services Supports on a phased basis commencing in September 2016. The school was described as a “centre of excellence” for its vocational programme which has had a very positive impact on the lives of many children with special needs in South Dublin, Wicklow and surrounding areas.

The rhetoric by the Sinn Fein, the Anti Austerity Alliance and the People Before Profit Alliance featuring on RTE's Prime Time programme amounts to nothing but illusion. Their election candidates showed no understanding of the need for revolution. Their rhetoric suggested that capitalism can be managed or reformed to the benefit of the working class by effectively taxing the rich and not the working class. Indeed the entire show confined itself to suggestions as to how to reform capitalism in one way or another. In that way the participants sought to effectively defend the capitalist system. Essentially all contributors were essentially advocating bourgeois politics. If the Socialist Party and the Socialist Workers Party were genuinely revolutionary they would have challenged RTE and its other contributors by advocating the need for revolution.

In the past week two more people have lost their lives while cycling on roads in Ireland, bringing the total number of cyclists killed in 2017 to 14*. That is *four more than were killed in all of 2016, and it makes 2017 the deadliest year for cyclists in more than a decade. The number of people who cycle who have been seriously or fatally injured is available on the Road Safety Authority’s web-page

Cyclehack Dublin is running a three-day event this weekend to “test new cycling innovations” to improve cycling in Dublin.

“Whatever your background, if you want to brainstorm solutions for improved cycling experience in Dublin and prototype them, come meet other like-minded individuals for a weekend of hacking,” said the organisers.

Environmental group reacts to court ruling that grants Ryanair leave to participate in runway challenge

The High Court today allowed Ryanair to participate in a legal challenge being taken by Friends of the Irish Environment against Fingal County Council's decision to extend the permission granted in 2007 for a third runway at Dublin Airport. Ryanair, which originally opposed the third runway, now supports it and came to court claiming it had a financial interest in the runway going ahead.

FIE Director Tony Lowes commented: "We are deeply concerned that Ryanair, a company which denies the existence of climate change has now been accepted as a party to these proceedings. We are concerned that the court’s decision will skew the proceedings away from the environmental impacts of aviation towards commercial considerations.

As this site ( http://irishcycle.com/2017/04/29/liffey-cycle-route-sol...path/ ) reported late last week, Dublin City Council officials have maintained that Option 7 of the Liffey Cycle Route is the best route but are opting to recommend the more expensive Option 8 which includes cycling-only boardwalk-like structures and mixes cycling and walking at a number of points.

SIPTU Firefighters and hundreds of their supporters protested outside fire stations across Dublin today (Saturday, 4th March) to highlight their opposition to an attempt to break up the Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) Emergency Medical Service by removing its ambulance call and dispatch function.